More kids want to grow up and be police officers | Dom Giordano

According to a survey, being a police officer is the third-most career aspiration among children

JOSEPH KACZMAREK

How would you feel if your 10-year-old declared that he wanted to be a cop when he grew up? A survey out last week by Fatherly.com and New York Life indicates that increasing numbers of kids are making that choice. In 2015, police officer was the children's 10 most-desired career, and this year it shot up to the third most desired.

In 2015, the most desired profession was pro athlete. This year that job dropped to NO. 8. The analysts at Fatherly.com speculated that athlete might have dropped because of the fact that it's been two years since the last Olympics or because of the politicization of some sports figures. This combination of cops and athletes made me speculate that both could be due to all the acrimony between some NFL and the police that has played out over the NFL season.

I hope that these changes are related. They would be an indication that parents are reminding their kids that cops are being unfairly lumped together as violent bigots that are routinely brutalizing African Americans. They might also be an indication of how deeply millions of Americans reject the hijacking of the national anthem to make political points.

This speculation set off liberal pundit Wendy Osefo, who said on Fox Business Network: "As a daughter of an individual my grandfather who was in the police force for 36 years and now my brother, who serves now as an NYPD officer, I have the utmost respect for police officers, but I reject the premise to say that there is some type of empirical data or some type of correlation between this and Colin Kaepernick or Black Lives Matter.

"Just in this year alone, Colin Kaepernick has the 17th most popular jersey in the NFL and only 3 percent of those individuals who said they do not watch the NFL attributed that to the protest when it comes to the national anthem.

"So, for me, I think that there may be some evidence to say what the media is doing may impact our children, but the long haul is this, civil rights movements in our country have never been popular. At the time that Martin Luther King was alive, 67 percent of Americans did not like him. And those are the same people who are putting up quotes a few days ago for this holiday. So even though this may be the fad, I do not see a correlation here."

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I think Osefo is clearly in denial. Kaepernick is not Martin Luther King. Police in Philadelphia and elsewhere are not Bull Connor and the racist sheriffs King defeated. That's why, despite the media onslaught diminishing police, parents and others might have broken through to kids to get them to view cops as helpers, as the good guys.

President Trump's praise and spotlighting of police is another factor in this elevation of police. There is a clear contrast with President Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder's approach to the police.

I wonder what the results would be if the survey was done only in Philadelphia? I'm convinced they would be much different. The election of District Attorney Larry Krasner is a clear indicator of how many Philadelphia voters feel about the police. They are out of touch with reality. From Police Commissioner Richard Ross on down, we have one of the finest police departments in the world.

There were other positive nuggets in the survey.

Of all the kids who wanted to grow up be doctors, an amazing 80 percent were girls. Fatherly.com also reports that girls were also more likely to pick STEM careers than boys. It's clear that the forces emphasizing STEM skills and careers are having a positive influence on girls.

They also cite the fact that nearly one-quarter of kids who want to be a doctor or veterinarian said they were influenced by the television show Doc McStuffins. McStuffins is a black girl who is a doctor to her stuffed animals and toys in a TV show.

How about a cartoon series featuring cops? How about telling your kids all the good things do every day?